One group was born in the mid-1950s during the era of atomic testing.

NPR: How A-Bomb Testing Changed Our Trees

But some researchers believe that the generally steady improvement since 1990 means American students are definitely on the right track, especially in this era of high-stakes educational testing.

NPR: Mixed Report Card for U.S. Schools

If his approach catches in a few years from now when gene scanning becomes cheap and easily available, it could herald a new era of do-it-yourself genetic testing.

FORBES: Do-It-Yourself Gene Testing Threatens Myriad's Monopoly

For most of the nuclear era, successive U.S. administrations of both political parties regarded periodic nuclear testing as essential to the maintenance of a safe, reliable and effective nuclear deterrent.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Are we serious about deterrence?

While U.S. administrations going back to the Eisenhower era have given lip service to the goal of a negotiated ban on all nuclear testing, in practice they proceeded cautiously in trying to achieve this goal.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center for Security Policy | Fumble on the Test Ban Treaty By Richard Burt The Washington Post, 18 October 1999

Recalling an era when the word "atomic" conjured modernity and mystery, the Smithsonian-run Atomic Testing Museum remains an intriguing testament to the period when the fantastical - and destructive - power of nuclear energy was tested just outside of Las Vegas.

BBC: Vintage Las Vegas